Shoalhaven River Entrance Management Policy - public exhibition

Council has recently completed a review of the entrance management arrangements for the Shoalhaven River at Shoalhaven Heads.

The draft Shoalhaven River Entrance Management Policy (EMP) is now on public exhibition following the completion of a series of technical studies.

The community is invited to provide submissions on the draft Shoalhaven River EMP until Sunday 23 March 2025, prior to the document being finalised.

The EMP takes into consideration a range of environmental factors and includes the outcome of an evidence-based, technical review of the trigger levels to inform the entrance management options within the document. A short video has been prepared which summarises the outcomes of the technical review and can be viewed by clicking on the video link on the right-hand side of this page.

The EMP has been developed in consultation with several NSW Government agencies.

View the draft Shoalhaven River EMP here, via the Document Library on the right-hand side of this page or through Council’s Documents on Exhibition webpage.

The Lower Shoalhaven River Entrance Management Policy Trigger Level Review (2024) memo has helped inform the draft Shoalhaven River EMP and can also be viewed here or in the Document Library on this webpage.

The draft Shoalhaven River Entrance Opening Review of Environmental Factors (2025) can also be viewed here and in the Document Library on this webpage.

To help explain the complexities of entrance management, Council have also prepared a brief, educational video, which can be viewed by clicking the video link on the right-hand side of this page.

The video discusses how the entrance to the Shoalhaven River naturally behaves, how Council manages the river entrance and why the entrance is not opened outside of flood conditions. We encourage you to watch the video prior to providing your submission.

To make a submission on the draft Shoalhaven River EMP, visit the Documents on Exhibition webpage.